Hers to Remember (Intrigue, 560)

Rating:
Summary: Romantic Times Review
Review: Hers to Remember (Harlequin Intrigue, No. 560) A Memory Away
by Karen Lawton Barrett

Three years before, she'd come into his life with no memory of who she was. They fell in love, got married and were expecting their first child when an accident brings back memories of who she was... and makes her forget the past three years. Now their life together, and the evil in her past are HERS TO REMEMBER . With an interesting twist on the amnesia storyline, Karen Lawton Barrett has penned a charmer.

Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: HERS TO REMEMBER is a story I will remember for its depth of emotions and characters. I kept putting myself in the heroine's place and wondering what I would do in the same situation -- the sign, to me, of a good story. Karen Barrett is a new voice to look for! I can't wait for her next book.

Rating:
Summary: Acceptable Romance
Review: I guess "Real" Intrigue fans can't tell the difference between excellent books and acceptable ones. I'm enough of a free thinker to understand every Intrigue is not the best book ever. They don't have to be. This one was all right but nowhere near five stars. I'm okay with amnesia books but the last few have all been too much alike. In January a woman woke up pregnant with no memory and in danger. The last few months have all been about women who can't remember their marriage and are in danger. This book combines all that. When I picked up this book I thought "Not again!" To be fair this isn't the author's fault. The other Intrigues this month *were* excellent. It would have been hard for a first novel to reach that level. It didn't. The best Intrigues give you twists and turns AND a strong romance at the same time. This one didn't and felt like a conventional romance novel. There are hundreds of books out there if that is what you want. I feel sorta bad for saying it but Hers to Remember is an acceptable Intrigue. Not a five star one.

Rating:
Summary: Acceptable Romance
Review: I guess "Real" Intrigue fans can't tell the difference between excellent books and acceptable ones. I'm enough of a free thinker to understand every Intrigue is not the best book ever. They don't have to be. This one was all right but nowhere near five stars. I'm okay with amnesia books but the last few have all been too much alike. In January a woman woke up pregnant with no memory and in danger. The last few months have all been about women who can't remember their marriage and are in danger. This book combines all that. When I picked up this book I thought "Not again!" To be fair this isn't the author's fault. The other Intrigues this month *were* excellent. It would have been hard for a first novel to reach that level. It didn't. The best Intrigues give you twists and turns AND a strong romance at the same time. This one didn't and felt like a conventional romance novel. There are hundreds of books out there if that is what you want. I feel sorta bad for saying it but Hers to Remember is an acceptable Intrigue. Not a five star one.

Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: New author Karen Lawton Barrett provides this month's amnesia book, "Hers to Remember," a novel where people do a lot of talking and not much else. Three years ago, Sam Donnelly met a woman with no memory of her past. Eventually, he married her, and the couple is expecting their first child. Then a head injury causes his wife's memory of her first life to come rushing back--and leaves her unable to remember her life with him. Adrienne Winston only remembers the ex-husband she was desperate to escape. Can she possibly believe in safety, and a future, with this man she doesn't know?

Beyond a very bland hero and some goofy moments (Adrienne's memory comes back when she trips and hits her head on the VACUUM CLEANER? ), the biggest problem with "Hers to Remember" is that it is another Intrigue (too common these days) where nothing happens. For the first hundred pages or so, the heroine keeps screaming that she is in DANGER, but there is no indication that she is. Some sense of the external threat making itself felt would have been nice. There isn't any. There are no threats against her, not even the slightest sign that her ex-husband has any idea where she is. All we have is her hysterics. When the only reason we have to believe the bad guy is bad, or that there even is a bad guy, is because our heroine says he is, a heroine whose memory is admittedly pretty spotty, it doesn't create much tension.

Worse, the whole book is like that. It takes forever for any threat to develop. For the most part, this is just another romance where the characters spend 200-some slow pages getting to know each other, with scattered bursts of the heroine's panic attacks and a very forced crisis at the end. At one point, a flood-level storm strikes the area where the characters live. A prime atmosphere for something suspenseful to happen or a romantic interlude, right? Nope. All we get is more talking, talking, talking about the most mundane topics. Worse, this is in the middle of a nearly eighty page stretch where the "threat" from her ex-husband is seldom mentioned, if at all, having been all but dismissed by the characters. She does some painting; he does some landscaping. It's all about as exciting as watching one of the heroine's paintings dry.

The opening letter tells readers to "hang on to your seats" while reading this book. Rest assured, only the highly excitable will be anywhere near the edge of their chairs. Anyone seeking just another romance novel where people gradually fall in love, talking about their relationship endlessly while little else happens, you may find it here (I could see this as a Silhouette Special Edition). Those expecting some action, mystery or even suspense from their romantic suspense novels should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Romantic Suspense Without the Suspense
Review: New author Karen Lawton Barrett provides this month's amnesia book, "Hers to Remember," a novel where people do a lot of talking and not much else. Three years ago, Sam Donnelly met a woman with no memory of her past. Eventually, he married her, and the couple is expecting their first child. Then a head injury causes his wife's memory of her first life to come rushing back--and leaves her unable to remember her life with him. Adrienne Winston only remembers the ex-husband she was desperate to escape. Can she possibly believe in safety, and a future, with this man she doesn't know?

Beyond a very bland hero and some goofy moments (Adrienne's memory comes back when she trips and hits her head on the VACUUM CLEANER? ), the biggest problem with "Hers to Remember" is that it is another Intrigue (too common these days) where nothing happens. For the first hundred pages or so, the heroine keeps screaming that she is in DANGER, but there is no indication that she is. Some sense of the external threat making itself felt would have been nice. There isn't any. There are no threats against her, not even the slightest sign that her ex-husband has any idea where she is. All we have is her hysterics. When the only reason we have to believe the bad guy is bad, or that there even is a bad guy, is because our heroine says he is, a heroine whose memory is admittedly pretty spotty, it doesn't create much tension.

Worse, the whole book is like that. It takes forever for any threat to develop. For the most part, this is just another romance where the characters spend 200-some slow pages getting to know each other, with scattered bursts of the heroine's panic attacks and a very forced crisis at the end. At one point, a flood-level storm strikes the area where the characters live. A prime atmosphere for something suspenseful to happen or a romantic interlude, right? Nope. All we get is more talking, talking, talking about the most mundane topics. Worse, this is in the middle of a nearly eighty page stretch where the "threat" from her ex-husband is seldom mentioned, if at all, having been all but dismissed by the characters. She does some painting; he does some landscaping. It's all about as exciting as watching one of the heroine's paintings dry.

The opening letter tells readers to "hang on to your seats" while reading this book. Rest assured, only the highly excitable will be anywhere near the edge of their chairs. Anyone seeking just another romance novel where people gradually fall in love, talking about their relationship endlessly while little else happens, you may find it here (I could see this as a Silhouette Special Edition). Those expecting some action, mystery or even suspense from their romantic suspense novels should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A REAL Intrigue fan's opinion. . .
Review: Real Intrigue fans love depth of characterization and emotion in their stories, as well as a building tension. This story has those in spades. I personally don't need breakneck speed and mega-action. I don't even need a mystery to solve. I read Intrigues because I love to see ordinary people confronted with situations that put them into danger. I'm grown-up enough to wait for the tension to develop and to enjoy an author's skill in building her characters and in letting the reader in on that process. I thought HERS TO REMEMBER was a great read, but then I'm truly a fan of Intrigues. I don't have any personal ax to grind with the line or the authors. I have to wonder about the motives of people who do.